(aside) An old friend died last night.

He had a number of long term medical challenges going on. AIDS, chronic heart disease, HCV and diabetes. Went into the ER/ICU with chest pains. Apparently a cascade of organ failures occurred over the course of a few hours and he flat lined. I hear the ICU staff was terrific. They had treated him before, helped him be as comfortable as possible and supported a group of his friends to be with him.

He was gay, it was a Catholic hospital and one of his friends who stuck with him through it all was an Episcopal minister. I mention that in context of our forum here. Everyone did really well by him.

2. I'm sorry you lost an old friend.

3. I just found out that a long time friend died last week

She was a brillant woman...so intelligent. She supported me when my son and husband were dying of their cancers
My friend had a brain tumor . She lived with it since 2002. It is hard to have good friends die.
She had one daughter who was gay. My friend raised a wonderful kind supporting daughter.

It is hard to have our dear friends die. but I know my friend is no longer in pain
I am sorry for your loss.

8. For Ron -

9. When a good friend dies, it is not just an aside.

As a pastor I have sat with scores of people until their last. As have every pastor i know.
We have nothing to offer but our presence. It is not doctrinal, it is no more than the love and compassion we have--as do many others --for any of our brothers any sisters.

Thirty years ago, when AIDS was a forbidden subject, a dying man at our nearby hospital wanted to be interviewed on the local TV station to telll his story. Nobody would touch it, so I had him wheeled into my church office--which everybody in the city could identified, since I was on the news every few days--and he was interviewed by a physician who was part of our church. That broke the back of he hostility for AIDs sufferers.